LECLAIR – Concertos

A natural recording sound which brings out the soloists and gives weight to the string ensemble makes this recording a must for all lovers of baroque music.. – Claude Gingras, La Presse, Canada, January 1999

MONICA HUGGETT, Guest conductor and baroque violin

Monica tours all over the world as soloist, director, and chamber musician, and has recorded on the EMI, Harmonia Mundi, Philips, Virgin, Erato, Decca and early-music.com labels with such orchestras as the Hanover Band, Raglan Baroque Players, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Academy of Ancient Music, Arion and the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra (which she formed with former Portland Baroque Orchestra Artistic Advisor Ton Koopman in 1980 and led until 1987).

With Sonnerie, Monica has championed the works of the French baroque masters, and has recorded chamber works by Schubert, Mendelssohn, and Beethoven with the chamber ensemble Hausmusik. In addition to her busy performing and recording schedule, she is also Professor of Baroque Violin at the Koninklijk Conservatorium, Den Haag, in the Netherlands. She is also Artistic Director of the Portland Baroque Orchestra which is based in Oregon, USA.

Ms. Huggett performs on a violin made in Cremona, Italy, in 1618 by Hieronymus and Antonius Amati.

Monica Huggett is a member of early-music.com, a site committed to the promotion of some of the world’s finest early music artists.

Claire Guimond, baroque flute

Claire Guimond is a leading baroque flautist, recognised first in Canada and now well established on the world scene. She is a founding member and artistic director of the Arion Baroque Orchestra, with which she has frequently toured in North and South America and Europe. She performs regularly with Tafelmusik, features in radio and TV broadcasts and plays at many festivals in Europe and North America, performing under such distinguished conductors as Ton Koopman, Andrew Parrott, Barthold Kuijken, Jordi Savall, Nicholas McGegan, Philippe Herreweghe and Bruno Weil.

Ms. Guimond has an extensive discography of over 30 recordings distributed internationally. As well as Arion, these feature harpsichordists Gary Cooper and Luc Beausejour, cellist Jaap ter Linden and violinist Monica Huggett.

Claire Guimond is a member of early-music.com, a site committed to the promotion of some of the world’s finest early music artists.

Arion Baroque Orchestra

The musicians of Arion started playing together in 1981. Flautist Claire Guimond has been the group’s artistic director since its inception. From the outset, Arion’s concerts were unanimously hailed for their clarity and gusto as well as their refined and expressive performances of a vast array of carefully-chosen early music works. An unrelenting attention to detail has made Arion’s artistic achievements worthy of those of the greatest current early music ensembles in North America.

The group calls upon world-renowned guest conductors to perform vocal and instrumental works in its high-profile series of concerts in Montreal. They include Barthold Kuijken, Monica Huggett, Stephen Stubbs and Jaap ter Linden.

A recipient of numerous awards and grants, Arion has toured extensively throughout Canada, Europe, Mexico and the United States. Recent years have brought the musicians to the Canadian Prairies, Europe (with a performance at the prestigious SouthBank Centre in London), the Canadian Maritimes and the east coast of the United States.

Arion has 25 recordings distributed internationally both as a quartet and in a larger setting with the collaboration of such fine artists as recorder player Marion Verbruggen, sopranos Agnès Mellon and Suzie LeBlanc, countertenors Matthew White and Daniel Taylor, baritone Max van Egmond, violinist and conductor Monica Huggett, Barthold Kuijken and Jaap ter Linden and some of the most important soloists in the country.

Arion is a member of early-music.com, a site committed to the promotion of some of the world’s finest early music artists.